Twitter has become an invaluable PR tool for all business owners. It has been one of the greatest online tools where we can get a good quality yet free PR. It is very easy to use and is really effective in reaching out to your target market.
Last week one of my friends and former co-workers Andrea Baxter and now Founder of Bratface marketing and I were talking about Twitter. We agreed that a list of Twitter resources always seems elusive for companies. So here it is…
Before you get all the Twitter tools though – make sure you are following her on Twitter (@andreabaxter) she has some great marketing info you’ll want to have and share.
Now – lets put these to the test…
The Basics
1. www.twitter.com – you sign up for the account here (but who isn’t on Twitter yet?).
2. www.twitter.com/cameronherold – follow me here if you’d like – highly recommended 🙂
3. twitter.grader.com (disbanded) – great place to see where you rank, to find others to follow etc. – Add some from the Twitter elite who interest you such as your favourite brands, influencers, newsworthy publications, politicians etc. You can also search terms here and add people who rank highly on those terms as well.
4. socialtoo.com (disbanded)– you can use this site to automatically follow people who follow you (this is the fastest way to start adding followers) but it’s not for everyone. If you choose to keep your follow list low, then this is not the app for you, but why wouldn’t you?
Searching & Tracking Stuff On Twitter
1. search.twitter.com – you can use this to see what’s happening on Twitter – think Google for Tweets (messages people send out).
2. www.twitscoop.com – another great way to see what’s buzzing on Twitter.
3. twhirl.org (disbanded) – a good desktop client for Twitter – personally I use TweetDeck. Hootsuite is also great.
4. twitterhawk.com (disbanded) – a great way to search for keywords – and send replies to people – i.e. those talking about your company or product. Great tracking & marketing tool!
5. twibs.com (disbanded) – this is where you register your company – so people can find you if your twitter name is your personal name, you can also find companies to follow here too.
6. live.tweetmeme.com (disbanded) – one of my recent favs where you can see what’s hot on Twitter (think Digg for Twitter).
Advanced Stuff
1. www.twitpic.com (disbanded) – you can upload photos to Twitter from here – great way to share your story…in images to add something extra to your tweets.
2. tweetstats.com – for the advanced tweet-a-holic and if you really start getting into it, you can see tons of stats.
3. tweetmic.com (disbanded) – how to upload an audio tweet. Use this to upload radio interviews and podcasts you are on. Get my PR DVD to learn how to land Free Press.
4. adjix.com (disbanded) and www.tinyurl.com are both great ways to automatically a) shorten URLS and b) send them out as tweets. A MUST have tool to fit into the 140 character count. You should also have these features available on your desktop application (Hootsuite, Seesmic Desktop and TweetDeck).
5. twittercounter.com (disbanded) – basic stats
PR People on Twitter
1. muckrack.com – journalists on Twitter if you’re a bit of a media junkie.
2. twitteringjournalists.pbworks.com
Put these in action and leave comments here of others I should add to the list or try out too.